in which Castiel has asthma and Lysander is a good friend
by TheFigureInTheCorner
Summary: Pretty much exactly what the title says. Also pretend Castiel doesn't smoke because that's not something you should do if you have asthma. Oneshot


"You lost the map."

Castiel smiled almost sheepishly, shrugging. "Oops?"

"I swear you're as bad as Lysander sometimes, mister 'you'll lose the map,'" Alex joked, shaking her head.

"Shut up."

Alex laughed, pulling out her phone and checking for a signal. "Nothing," she sighed, putting it back in her pocket."Come on. They'll worry about us if we don't show up back at the buses, so we should probably at least try to find our way around."

Castiel nodded, walking beside her. "Well, it could be worse. At least you're not actually paired with Lysander. He would lose the map, then get you lost too."

"Hm. True."

They walked mostly in silence, both looking intently for either the scavenger hunt items or a path that looked familiar.

After about an hour, Castiel seemed to suddenly remember something important. He began digging around in his pockets, then groaned in frustration, running a hand through his hair.

"What is it?" Alex asked, looking at him in confusion.

Castiel sighed. "Inhaler. I must have forgotten it on the bus or at school or home or something."

"Oh." Alex frowned. "That could be a problem."

"Oh, really?" Castiel said sarcastically, snorting. "That much is obvious. We're lost in a forest out in the middle of nowhere with no way of calling anyone for help, and I'm stuck here without my inhaler in a place with probably at least a two page list of things that could trigger my asthma."

"Someone will find us, I'm sure," Alex said, though she didn't sound all that sure of her own words.

"Not for a while," Castiel grumbled. "The scavenger hunt doesn't end for another few hours, and they'll only really start looking-" he paused to cough a few times- "when they realize we're not there; it could take another hour or two to find us after that."

Alex stared at Castiel in concern. "Er, Cas- are you okay? You're starting to cough..."

"'M fine."

And he was, for a couple of hours. Occasionally he'd cough a bit, and he'd rub his chest when he thought Alex wasn't looking, as if he were in pain or something.

Eventually, though, Castiel had to stop. He sat against a tree, taking deep breaths to try and open up his lungs a bit.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Alex asked, sitting next to him. He looked like he was about to insist that he was fine again, but then decided against it, shaking his head.

"No," he admitted, sounding breathless. "I needed my inhaler a while ago. That's why I started to dig around for it."

"What- Cas, that was hours ago!" Alex said, staring at him in shock. She sighed. "Okay, no. I am not letting you exert yourself anymore. You're already having trouble breathing. We'll just wait for someone to find us- isn't that what a lot of survival things say? If you're lost in the woods, stay put? Something like that."

Castiel nodded, frowning. "I think so," he said, shrugging. "I really was fine earlier. I was just getting a bit of a cough."

_Now, not so much,_ he thought to himself, falling quiet. He didn't want Alex to start freaking out on him, because that wouldn't help anything, so he didn't say anything. But he knew he was starting to show signs of an asthma attack, and it was gradually getting harder for him to breathe.

Castiel winced- he was audibly wheezing now. "I don't think anyone's going to find us," he managed to get out. "Maybe call for help? Someone might hear us."

Alex nodded, standing up. "Can anybody hear me?" She yelled, looking around. "We need help!"

She listened for a response. She didn't hear anything for what felt like forever, and was about to try again when someone replied.

"Alex? Is that you?"

Lysander.

Alex sighed in relief, smiling. "Yeah, it's me! Follow the sound of my voice."

"What's wrong? What happened?" It was Nathaniel this time- the two of them must have been paired up.

"We lost our map and Castiel forgot his inhaler," Alex said, glancing at the redhead in question.

"Okay, we'll be right there, just keep talking so we can find you," Lysander said. They went on like that for a few minutes, calling things out to each other. Finally, Alex saw Lysander pop out from behind one of the trees.

"On your left!" She called out to him, and he turned, catching sight of her. He grinned, turning back and gesturing for someone to follow him. Alex assumed he was gesturing to Nathaniel, which she soon found out he was.

Lysander and Nathaniel ran up to her.

"Is Castiel okay?" Lysander asked, looking past her to the tree that Castiel was still leaning against. Castiel didn't look up. His breathing was starting to speed up even more, and there was an extremely worrying whistle to it when he inhaled.

"No," Alex frowned. "He's been having trouble breathing for a few hours now. At first it was just a cough but I think he pushed himself a bit and he was having some trouble talking..."

She trailed off. Lysander was already walking toward Castiel, kneeling in front of him and putting his hands on Castiel's shoulders.

"Hey," he said, leaning down to look Castiel in the eyes. "Hey, okay, deep breaths. I know it's hard but you need to try to take deep breaths, okay."

Castiel nodded slightly, trying to pull in as much air as he could. It wasn't much- when his breathing evened out, he was still breathing quickly, just not as frantically.

"Nathaniel," Lysander said calmly, turning slightly to look at the blond boy, "I need you to go back to the buses and get Castiel's bag. If his inhaler is anywhere then that's our best bet."

Nathaniel nodded, eyes wide at the sight of his rival, who usually seemed to be in perfect health (despite how many absentee forms he turned in claiming he was sick), sitting on the ground barely able to breathe, let alone speak. He turned, running back to the buses as quickly as he could.

It seemed like an eternity before Nathaniel returned, when really it must have only been ten minutes. Mr. Faraize trailed behind him when he did, and Nathaniel was holding a black and grey backpack.

Nathaniel handed the bag to Lysander. "You know where he keeps it," he said, "and I'm assuming you know how to use it, too."

Lysander nodded, looking through one of the side pockets and producing Castiel's inhaler. He filled it, handing it to Castiel, who nearly dropped it. Lysander wrapped his hands around Castiel's, steadying them. He brought the inhaler to his mouth and took deep breaths.

Finally, he seemed to be able to breathe again.

Castiel slumped, exhausted. Lysander visibly relaxed, and Alex and Nathaniel sighed in relief. They stayed like that for a while, before Lysander helped Castiel up.

"Come on," he said, looping one of Castiel's arms over his shoulders. "We should get you back to the bus.

The four of them went back together; Nathaniel wasn't supposed to split from Lysander, and Alex couldn't do the scavenger hunt without Castiel.

Principal Shermansky met them in the parking lot. Lysander turned to Nathaniel when they'd gotten Castiel onto the bus, where he fell asleep almost immediately.

"I'd like to stay with Castiel and Alex, if that's alright with you," he said, and Nathaniel nodded.

"Yeah, no, I get it. Go ahead."

Alex let Lysander sit next to Castiel, while she sat in the row across from them. Lysander had known Castiel longer; it was only fair.

An hour or so passed. Students began to pile onto the bus, chattering happily over who had won. They drove back to the school, and eventually the noise died down as more people began to fall asleep.

Nathaniel was sitting next to Alex; he'd slipped into the window seat.

"Nathaniel?" Alex said. Nathaniel turned to her.

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

He smiled, not responding as he turned back to look out the window.

Lysander had Castiel stay over at his house that night.

"You can come too, if you'd like," he said, looking at Alex.

"Yeah, my parents are out of town. They wouldn't really be there to care."

She climbed into the backseat of Lysander's car. Castiel climbed in with her, though he didn't sit; he laid down, resting his head in her lap. She was surprised at first, but she didn't move him; he was asleep again almost immediately.

They drove in comfortable silence, as the sky grew darker and the moon and stars shone above.


End file.
